Interview with the creators of UK based brand, Cockheart.
When did the four of you start working together and how did the idea of Cockheart come about?
Cockheart started when Bence, the designer, made the first t-shirt to wear at a festival and noticed that the logo got a lot of positive attention. When the three of us joined it was a product of our shared desire to stand for something and make a change. We wanted Cockheart to be a symbol for queer people, and to create a safe environment for people to be comfortably provocative but never offensive regardless of their sexuality.
We have found success with this in our most recent endeavour Cockheart Club. This is a club night we host in which we attempt to bring the tingly anarchic sensation of love from the rave scene and combine it with the strong sense of self-expression from the club kid scene.
What’s your manifesto?
We don’t want to succeed alone, the cake is better when it is shared, so we want to collaborate and work with all the other amazing queer creatives we’re surrounded by. Never take advantage, pay fair
How important is it for a brand to be based in London, and what does London bring to you? Does the city inspire you?
London is a city filled with “outcasts” from all over the world. And this is exemplified drastically within the queer scene. At Cockheart we believe that these are the most interesting people, the people that don’t fit the mould in our current hetero-normative society. We are always surrounded by these beautiful characters, so undoubtedly Cockheart is arguably driven by the scene we are in and inspired by the creatives with in it.
As I can see from your site, your collection doesn’t correspond to seasons. How often do you place new items in the shop?
As it stands Cockheart is still a small start-up and were trying to do more than just clothing (moving in to the party scene). However this makes it hard to acknowledge specific seasons. So Instead of working under the pressure of a deadline we choose to put out designs more harmoniously through individual magic moments of inspiration from varying creatives within the scene. Like this, we insure that every design was created by true moments of love and inspiration as opposed to stress and anxiety.
If there is a red carpet moment, who do you wish would wear Cockheart?
The closest we come to having a celebrity crush must be Munroe Bergdorf.
What are some dislikes you have about fashion (if any) and what you like the most?
We´re much more into style than we´re into fashion.
Can you tell me a bit about Cockheart parties?
Cockheart club is something we dreamed of since the beginning of Cockheart.
What’s missing in this world is equality and acceptance, and we see how the Cockheart Club dance floor in many ways represents the world we wanna live in. We aim to bring pure hedonistic pleasure, a place where you can unfold yourself–just not at the expense of others. We express Love and anarchy on the dance floor. There´s no hierarchy, we share the dance floor through acceptance and you´re judged only on your contribution to the energy.
The next party is 2nd of February in Oslo and this time Dj Stingray from Detroit will be headlining, playing alongside Cockheart residents A Rare Stroke from London based HTBX.
How do you imagine the future of Cockheart?
We´re planning to keep focus on the parties and hopefully bringing Cockheart Club to more cities in Europe so we can continue to build the Cockheart Family across communities and across borders.
Find more: @cockheart / www.cockheart.com
Photographers: Barney Pau, Christopher Sletten, Ortenheim photography, Eivind Hansen